Game – Movie Review: Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (1997)

So remember how the Mortal Kombat movie was actually quite decent? Well some bright spark thought that success meant we had to have a sequel & the only way to go was stuff it with as many MK characters as possible, shorten the fight scenes, change several actors & betray the fan-base.

*slow sarcastic clap*.

The film picks up exactly were the last ended…Shao Kahn has invaded Earth Realm breaking the rules of Mortal Kombat. Alongside his newly resurrected Queen, Sindel (Kitana’s mother) he plans to absorb Earth Realm over the next week (a play on creation). It’s up to Liu Kang & his merry band of warriors to stop him!

The first thing that becomes instantly clear is the large amount of cast changes. The only 2 who remain from the first movie is Liu Kang & Kitana. Sonja has been replaced with a woman who looks nothing like her & Cage’s guy has one line before he gets killed by Shao Kahn. I could forgive most of this but I can’t get past the change in actors for Raiden who gets more prominent role this time round.

Most of the film is made up of the Earth warriors on a recruitment mission. Sonja goes & finds Jax, a stereo-typical character who comes across pathetically. Liu Kang & Kitana look for Nightwolf & find Jade along the way (she is just awful…I mean the absolute worst).

Raiden gives up his powers to be allowed to help the Earth lot making him mortal & getting a haircut at the same time (I don’t know…). Along the way there are many skirmishes between the heroes & the Outworld lot.

One of the major flaws in this movie is the amount of characters that are introduced then promptly killed off. It is pointless & diminishes from the overall impact of their contribution. So many characters mean so little time on screen & so little time to fight. One of the best things about the original was the fight scenes were this time it is one of the worst. Even the final fight between Liu Kang & Shao Kahn feels lazy & rushed.

This time round the Earth warriors are mainly an unlikeable bunch. Liu Kang’s journey to unlock his inner animal (animality, of course) is boring then laughable once Jade shows up & then groan-worthy when Nightwolf wanders in. Jax’s whole, I don’t have faith in myself’ act is out of place for a guy his size & the fact he won’t stop smack-talking while fighting doesn’t endear himself to anyone.

Don’t get me started on Sonja…

So MK: Annihilation was made with fans in mind compared to the first movie that was looking to draw in the casual viewer as well but ended up alienating just about everyone. It’s a bad videogame adaptation with little to recommend…fans of the series won’t find much to enjoy here.